


Learning to Care

by Banner4Hetalia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Family Feels, I Tried, I really did, Other, Parent Snape, Severus does not know to take care of a kid, Toddler Harry, really love the idea of snape taking care of baby harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 19:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19932961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banner4Hetalia/pseuds/Banner4Hetalia
Summary: Snapes learns a lesson in taking care of little Harry





	Learning to Care

It was a Thursday night that changed everything. Severus had finally finished another year teaching Potions at Hogwarts. He was glad that he was able to sit down and enjoy some peace and quiet without having to deal with any children. About half-way through his book, Dumbledore came out of his floo holding something.

Severus raised an eyebrow at this. Albus only came here if it was life or death.

“To what do I own this unexpected visit, Albus?” Snape wanted to ignore him and go back to reading his book, but considering that Albus flooed at almost 1 in the morning had him curious.

“I'm sorry that I have intruded so late into your house Severus, but there has been a change in the plans.” Snape was wondering which of Dumbledore's plans were going wrong, when Albus moved his arms to show him what he was holding.

In Albus Dumbledore's arms, was a sleeping four year old Harry Potter.

“Why in Merlin's name did you bring him here? Of all places Albus!” Snape was wondering why he felt the need to bring the boy to him.

“I had been thinking about what Minerva said to me a few years ago when I gave him to his relatives. I went back myself to check up on him and found that she was right. I felt that the best idea was to get Harry to a safe place.” Dumbledore looked down at the still sleeping child and smiled.

“And your first immediate thought was to bring him to me?” Snape was wondering if the old man had finally lost it.

“I thought about this Severus and you are best option there was. I couldn't leave him with another wizarding family because everyone would know he's here in the wizarding world. There are still many out there who are loyal to Tom, Severus.” With that he handed the child over to a begrudgingly Severus Snape.

“What about when I have to return to Hogwarts Headmaster? What then?” Snape was hoping that Dumbledore would find another place for the boy besides his horrible relatives, because he didn't know the first thing on how to take care of a child.

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to twinkle at the man's question, “Don't worry Severus, Before summer is over, I'll make sure Harry is put into a place where he can grow up and be loved in a safe environment.” With that Albus flooed out of Snape's home in Spinner's End.

~Time skip~

Three months had passed and Snape was convinced that Dumbledore wasn't going to look for another place for the boy.

Shortly after said man had left, did the boy wake up to see himself sleeping in the arms of an unknown man. To Snape's surprise and relive, the boy didn't scream or squirm away from him. He just looked around for something and then removed himself away from Snape.

The last three months had been awkward to say the least. Snape wasn't used to having a child around and he certainly didn't know how to speak to children. He only knew the basics of taking care of a child, feed, bathe,and make sure they don't die.

Surprisingly, what he thought was going to be temper tantrums and having a constant headache because of the boy, he found that Harry awake at 7 every morning trying to clean certain parts of the house. More suspicious was the fact that Harry didn't really seem to talk much.

One late morning, little Harry wondered into Snape's potions room, attempting to clean for the nice man whom had taken him in. He knew the man called, Mr. Snape was a better person than his aunt and uncle had ever been. Even so, he wanted to stay on the Mr. Snape's good side, so every morning he woke up, make his bed and began to clean on the room he thought needed it the most.

As Harry began dusting the room, he didn't realize how close he was to some of the potions, and ended up knocking one off of the shelf and getting covered in it.

Snape, having heard a glass break, immediately ran to find the source. Upon entering his potion's room, he found Harry on the ground covered in what appeared to be 'a cure for boils' potion. He rushed over to pick the boy up and away from the shards of glass on the room, and cleaned it up with a quick Scourgify. Once the mess was gone, he turned around to the four year old who was trying to get the potion off of him.

Sighing, he did another Scourgify on the boy, and looked him over once.

“Why in Merlin's name did you come in here! Surely you know by now that this room was off limits! I would have thought you'd have known that by now! You should consider yourself lucky that it was just a simple potion that landed on you Potter, had it been a 'Draught of living Death'-” Severus immediately stopped at the thought of losing one of his more advanced potions.

While Snape was momentarily distracted, Harry decided to leave, by running not only out of the potion's room, but out of the front door as well.

As soon as Harry left, did Snape feel that his wards were breached. He quickly realized that Harry wasn't in the room, and ran to the front door, only to see it wide open and Harry no where to be found.

Knowing that Harry was no longer in the house made Severus worry. He knew the area where he lived wasn't the safest. Although he knew he was safe being a full grown wizard, how would a four year old boy manage?

Snape was worried, not only at the fact that he lost Lily's son, but at the fact that the boy could be dead and the entire wizarding world would have lost it's savior.

As Snape ran out of his house, he realized that he may have been a little to hard on Harry. He knew the boy had only been trying to help, as best he could. He didn't really cause Severus hardly any trouble the whole time that he has been his temporary 'guardian'. The whole time that he was thinking about this, Snape came to realize that having Harry here wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

Considering that this was **her** son, he should have known that Harry wouldn't been as bad as his father was.

Severus vowed then and there as he scanned the nearly dark streets around Spinner's End, that he would try for both Lily's and his sake to treat Harry better.

~Meanwhile~

Having ran a few minutes away from Mr. Snape's house. As he sat down and leaned against a gray very scary looking building. Harry thought that he was safe, who knows what Mr. Snape could have done. Yes he never hurt him, but Harry was scared.

What if he become like Uncle Vernon? Harry hoped not, he was actually kind of enjoying listening to Mr. Snape when he would read his books, or watching him perform simple spells around the house.

As Harry prepared to spend the night sleeping on the cold concrete, did he see a certain scowling man coming towards him and picking him up gently.

“You're not injured are you?” Snape said as he glanced Harry over, looking for scrapes.

Harry shook his head. “Mr. Snape?”

“What is it Harry?”

“Are you gonna lock me away for breaking you potion, like Uncle Vernon did when I didn't mean to break a picture?” Harry was sure that he would receive at least no dinner tonight for the broken potion.

Snape knew that Harry was going to ask him about a Dursley related punishment. Even though he had been with Snape three months now, that wasn't enough to erase the pain in the few years the boy had spent with them.

“No Harry, you're not going to be locked away from breaking a potion. It was an accident and I should have realized that at first instead of lashing out at you. I need you to know that I was worried about you .” As Snape was reassuring Harry, he started walking back towards his home in Spinner's End, keeping a tight hold on little Harry.

“Harry you're not in trouble because this was an accident. However, I want you to know that you are not to be in the potion lab again without me in there. I put these rules in place for a reason, to keep you safe. Because you are one of the most important people in my life and I care about you very much Harry”

As Snape was explaining all of this to Harry, Harry was clutching onto Snape's robes as he carried him back home. He was happy to know that not only was Mr. Snape not gonna lock him in his room, but the fact that he admitted to caring for and loving him.

Just as Snape arrived back home, did Harry fall asleep in his arms, happy to know that he finally had someone that would always be there for him.


End file.
